Not really OT - tweezers

I have several. One pair I bought when I got my first serger. Another pair came with the Bernina serger, and I also have a very sharp pair, which are the best for thread detangling...

Never sew without at least one pair of long-nosed tweezers! I tend to buy them from tool places rather than sewing shops, as you get a better quality item.

I wouldn't be without a pair of Medical clamping hemostats for threading a Serger or other procedures where it is necessary to hold onto a piece of thread for any reason while trying to put that thread somewhere it doesn't want to go. Also aligning round industrial needles in an industrial sew sewing machine would be almost impossible without one. That would be my choice of the one must have sort of tweezers. I have some offset tweezers, somewhere, that came with the serger, and I never have used them. I don't even know where they are. Maybe I threw them away.

John

You're mighty smart this morning, Kate. I hadn't even considered a tool store and there's one next door to the Viking shop. The only tweezers I have left are more like blunt weapons than fine, sharp tweezers. Polly

I have the long 8" tweezers that came with my Singer serger. I also have a couple pair more of the 6'' ones that I got at a tool store and at the flea market with medical supplies. Barbara in FL

I have several pairs of tweezers, too, Polly, in addition to a hemostat. One pair of tweezers is the long type (6") with slightly bent tips, and of course I have some of the shorter (4.5"), pointy ones. I also have a pair of reverse tweezers that I love -- only 4.5", but so easy to use. My latest acquisition is a pair of rather oddly-shaped ones that Susan Schrempf swears by for machine silk embroidery; the easiest way to describe them is to show you a photo: . All of them, including the hemostats, are really useful for different things. :)

I bought the tin snips I have for cutting corset bones and the pliers I got for capping them in the tool store along with the tweezers. :)

cant help ya choosing a new pair, Polly. i can suggest putting a long piece of pretty ribbon on the handle so they dont go flying the next time. i have ribbon or something on all those little tools that keep finding places to hide. at least the ribbon gives me half a chance of them not hiding quite so well. j.

"Polly Esther"wrote... Tweezers - the number one purchase on my list of things to find tomorrow. Limited to Hobby Lobby, Hancocks, a very small LQS and WalMart, I guess. Somehow, my best, most important pair have disappeared. Could be during a temper fit when the serger was being really annoying. I just might have scooped them up and tossed them with all of the many trials/errors. Do you have an Important pair of tweezers for your stitching and which style, angle, brand whatever do you prefer? Polly

Some of my sewing/quilting buddies tie a ribbon loop on things they don't want to lose and then put their sewing machine cord through the loop. It may slide down the cord, but it won't go any place.

I have a pair of 3 1/2" Gingher tweezers that could be a dangerous weapon - I keep the points stuck in a small chunk of styrofoam. Also, have a pair of

Donna in SW Idaho

Fine suggestions; thank you all. I found a couple of pair at WallyWorld, didn't get to do any serious tweezer shopping today. However - tool shopping is my favorite place for Christmas shopping for the guys and I'll put me on the list. Polly

Polly: I've got two favorite tweezers. Both are a light weight steel or firm aluminum; each is about 4.5" long. One came from a LQS I think. It has a slight angle so the final .75" or so is almost but not quite perpendicular to the main portion. The other favorite is from a surgical kit! That was used to remove the surgery stitches after my shoulder repair. (The clinics often use a 'disposable' kit of sterile scissors and tweezers; ask for it if you are a patient in that situation.) It is very like the LQS model, but is straight and the tips are a tad narrower/pointier. BTW: the repaired arm is quite nearly 100% normal again! that reason, the surgery was worth while; I would NOT do it just for that cool tweezers!! Grins, Pat in Virginia